Botanicula review – growing excitement

Gaming’s least intimidating cast of characters embark on a quest to defeat invading monsters and prove that the graphic adventure isn’t dead yet.

Botanicula (PC) – garden festival

It’s not just because this is a point ‘n’ click adventure that no major publisher would dream of releasing it on consoles. Botanicula has an even more toxic marketing profile than that: it’s cheerful, funny, irreverent and even a little bit twee. These are not virtues generally celebrated by an angry male audience, and despite all the pretences about gaming reaching a wider audience that’s still all that really matters to most publishers.So hurrah not just for indie developers like Amanita Design, but the fact that the increasing strength of the download market means that Botanicula will never need a TV advert to be successful.If you’ve played online hit Machinarium then knowing that this follow-up is by the same Czech developer is likely to be all the recommendation you need. A point ‘n’ click adventure of the type they supposedly don’t make any more, Botanicula tells the tale of five curious creatures leaving in a tree under attack from hungry spider-like monsters.The specifics of what is going on are to some degree left to your imagination, since the quintet of heroes don’t speak in anything other than endearing burbles. That means there’s no dialogue trees to navigate, as you’d find in most other graphic adventures, just deceptively simple logic puzzles – and the sheer pleasure of wandering around the game’s flick screen world.Even ignoring the single screen environments Botanicula is an obviously very low tech game, but as ever that doesn’t matter one bit in the face of imaginative art design. The translucent green glow of the tree’s branches is beautiful in its simplicity, as insects flit happily about their business amid a background buzz of nature perfectly in balance.Which makes your descent down the tree, to where the monsters are draining its leaves and inhabitants of life, seem all the more upsetting. Your five characters are an anthropomorphised twig, feather, mushroom, acorn, and a seed – so they’re not exactly the microcosmical equivalent of Duke Nukem.Confronted with any obstacle more dangerous than a small bug and they flee in screaming terror back to the last screen. They do have a few special talents each: Mr Twig can extend his branches to reach distance objects and Mr Poppy Head (the seed) is the largest and strongest of the team. Most of the time though they move as a group and your only interaction with the world is the mouse cursor.Move the cursor around the screen and leaves and other objects will waft slightly in the virtual breeze you create, which is used to control a few of the puzzles (such as flicking berries out of a shell to dislodge a key from its perch). The majority of interactions though are initiated when the cursor transforms to a hand and you realise an object is properly interactive if you click upon it.Sometimes these interactions are seem entirely trivial, such as causing flowers to bloom or dislodging a bug, but they always have their own reward in terms of a brief musical motif or a collectable trading card for that particular animal. But even these are unnecessary incentives given how much the game world draws you in and urges you to interact with it (and we say this as big girl’s blouses terrified of most insectoids in real life).It’s true that a few too many of the puzzles involve just clicking on everything in sight until the solution becomes obvious, but by the end of the game there are some top class brain-teasers. In fact the difficulty curve is a little to sharp around the halfway point, as the game begins to throw up some increasingly obscure pattern recognition puzzles and what almost amounts to arcade action with trampolines and bloated flies that have to be squeezed at just the right moment.There’s always a visual or audio clue to hand but you often only realise what they mean after you solve the puzzle. Together with the lack of any help system the game’s final hours are more frustrating than the initial ones suggest, although enough goodwill has been accrued by then that we were certainly happy to persevere.The more abstract storytelling means the overall experience isn’t quite as compelling as Machinarium’s android love story, but it’s still a highly enjoyable follow-up. And if it doesn’t look like something for you do bear in mind that, via Amanita’s website , you pay for it only whatever you want.

As we write this the average is $8.85 (about £5.40), which gains you not only Botanicula but also Machinarium and – if you pay above the average – three other of Amanita’s games. But even with a percentage of the sales going to charity you shouldn’t need such bribery to consider the game.Botanicula is perfect for people who think video games are too violent, but it’s also ideal for those that are glad they are – but can still appreciate a skilfully-created palate cleasner like this.In Short:Charming, clever and attractive; Botanicula is the perfect antidote to angst-ridden gaming and a fine graphic adventure in its own right.Pros:Wonderfully imaginative setting and graphics, with instantly endearing characters. Minimalist interface and great soundtrack. As cheap as you like.Cons:Uneven difficulty curve means the early puzzles are quite trivial and the later ones too obscure. Quite short, with little replay value.Score:7/10Formats: PCPrice: N/APublisher: Amanita DesignDeveloper: Amanita DesignRelease Date: 19th April 2012Age Rating: 7Video:Check out the Botanicula trailer